to be stirred all the time. I am going to use carbonate of soda and
white arsenic this year; four parts carbonate of soda to two parts of
white arsenic, and one gallon of water; boil for fifteen minutes, then
add another gallon of water and use two quarts of this to fifty gallons
of water. I pick my apples in a sack from a ladder. I sell apples in the
orchard; have regular customers for the winter apples. I supply some
stores with early and fall apples; never peddle any. I put my
second-grade apples in piles of about thirty bushels each, and cover
lightly with dirt until cold weather comes. A little freezing will not
hurt them. In March or April I market them, and get as much for them as
I get for the first-class ones in the fall. Those that keep best are:
Ben Davis, Winesap, Rawle's Janet, Gilpin, and Milam. We dry some apples
for home use. We put them on frames in a spent hotbed under glass, to
keep flies off. I have a large cellar in which I store apples; have
never packed them in barrels. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from
35 cents to $1.50 per bushel. Have help of my own.

* * * * *

L. P. ASHCROFT, Shibboleth, Decatur county: I have lived in Kansas
twenty-two years. Have 100 apple trees, eight to twelve years old, four
to ten inches in diameter. I prefer for commercial purposes Ben Davis,
Winesap, and Willow Twig. I prefer upland with a south slope. I plant
two-year-old, low, bushy, stout-top trees. To set, I plow deep and dig
deep holes, in the fall. I cultivate my orchard every year from May 1 to
July 1, and late in the fall. I use the harrow in the spring, disc and
harrow later on, and lister in the fall. I think windbreaks would be
beneficial on the south, and would make them of buildings and sheds of
all kinds. I am troubled with small borers in the limbs. I prune out the
inside of trees to let sun and air through. I think it beneficial, and
that it pays. I never thin apples; the wind does the thinning. My trees
are in mixed plantings, and I believe would bear every year if they did
not freeze. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter on top of heavy
snows. I think it beneficial, if not too close to the trees. I would
advise its use on all soils if applied at the right time and in the
right manner. I do not pasture my orchard; it does not pay. My trees are
troubled with small borers, and my fruit with some insects. I do not
spray. I have used coal-oil for borers, but do